Amazon Links

Newsletter Signup

Looking for something?

December 13, 2006

Introduction to Prosperity - Does God Want You To Be Rich?

We are almost constantly in a quandary of one kind or another. If our lives are not what we want them to be, we end up stuck in a dilemma. The problem arises because we begin to wonder: Does God want something else for me? Or am I supposed to be in this struggle?

The question that occupies our minds is: What is God's will for my life? And while there are as many answers to that question as there are people in the world, there are still a few general principles that we can apply. And when it comes to prosperity, or money, the answer may surprise some people.

Part of the problem that we face in our relationship with God is that He is looking for us to have faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we can't please Him without it, so we need to have faith. And no matter what we decide about God's will for our finances, one thing is clear: What we end up with will be the product of our beliefs.

Proverbs 30:7-9 says, "Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

There does seem to be some debate about who wrote this particular Proverb. So I won't get into that here other than to say, if it was Solomon, who was probably the richest man that ever lived, that puts a whole new light on this prayer. The point that I do want to make is that this is a prayer. This person is asking God to keep him from lies and to provide for his daily needs.

If we take this verse as a general principle, something that God is trying to teach us, then we could falsely believe that God is telling us that we should want the same thing that this person wanted. In other words, that we should pray and ask God to make sure that we are neither poor nor rich. And the reason we would be asking that is, just like the person who did write this, we believe that being rich will cause us to forget God, and we believe that poverty would cause us to become thieves.

But there are more than these two options. Being rich does not mean that we are forced to forget God. If that were the case, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, and a whole host of other wealthy people throughout the Bible would have forgotten God. The fact that this person knew himself well enough to know that He would disown God, means that He understood his own limitations. But it doesn't mean that everyone is like that.

And there are other options on the poverty side of things. Everyone who is poor is not forced against his or her will to become a thief. There are a lot of people who are poor but have very high moral standards and values that they hold to. They are honest hard-working people and stealing is the last thing that they would do.

So when looking at this prayer, we need to remember that this is just one person's request. God isn't telling us that money, either too much or too little, is inherently bad for us. And we aren't being told that we should be satisfied with just enough to pay our bills.

But even if this prayer were meant to be something all of us should pray, it would still mean a dramatic improvement for many people. There are a lot of people, particularly in America, who are always just a little behind when it comes to their daily needs. They have borrowed money and are struggling to pay the bills. Even if they can't accept that God wants to prosper them so that they have more than they need, they should at least look to God to help them meet their obligations.

I often wonder if we find it more comfortable to always just be a little short of cash. After all, if I can barely keep up with my bills, then I can't really be expected to give much. Some people always seem to find room in their budget for the latest gadget, but not to pay tithes or help the poor. They keep themselves in semi-poverty so that they are free from having to think about giving money away.

The problem that those people face is that they hurt themselves. Because they don't understand how money works in God's kingdom, they end up stuck in a constant battle to try and make ends meet. All they would need to do is to learn about God's abundance and they would realize that there is always enough money to take care of their needs and help others.

The minimum level of prosperity that everyone should reach is to have enough to provide for their own needs, those of their family, and to care for the needs of others. In Ephesians 4:28 Paul writes, "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need." In other words, the thief is completely rehabilitated when he no longer steals, does something useful to provide for his own needs, and has enough left over for those who are in need.

I wonder if this verse would apply to people who haven't been paying their tithes and offerings? Malachi 3:8-12 says that we rob God if we don't pay them, so perhaps we should think about the principle of tithes and offerings again. If anyone is struggling with their finances, they are finding that there is too much month left at the end of the money, then the first thing they need to do is ask: Have I been robbing God? If the answer is yes, then God will help them financially when they put Him first.

But for some people the question about God's will and money will go beyond just meeting their needs and having a little left over for charity. They want to know if it's OK for them to believe God to make them wealthy.

John 15:7 says, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." The last part of James 4:2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God."

When Jesus returned to his hometown, He ran into some resistance. The people simply would not believe that this man, the carpenter's son, someone they knew, was a prophet. Matthew 13:57-58 says, "And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, 'Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.' And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith."

In Mark 9:14-27 we read the story about the man who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus' disciples to be healed. The disciples weren't able to heal the boy, but when Jesus came the father pleaded with Him to heal his son. In verse 22 the father says, "But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us." Jesus responds in a manner that some might consider harsh, when He says, "If 'You' can?"

If we were in a similar situation we might also begin to wonder if God could answer our prayers. The father had come full of faith, but his son had not been healed. Now his mind was full of questions and doubt, and perhaps he believed that if the disciples were incapable of healing his son, that their teacher may not have the ability. But Jesus makes it clear to the father that it was not up to whether or not Jesus could, but it all hinged on the father's faith. In verse 23 He said, "...all things are possible to him who believes."

The simple answer is that God is the one who gives us the ability to get wealth. That ability is available to anyone who wants it, and all we have to do is to ask Him for it. The factor that limits us in having wealth in our lives isn't God's will, or even our goodness, but our belief. If we believe that God can't, or doesn't want to, make us wealthy, then we will never become wealthy.

And when it comes to God's will for our lives, the answer is that God wants us to know Him and to know Jesus. Christ died so that we could be forgiven and receive God's salvation. But even beyond that, God's will is for us to glorify Him through our continuing relationship with the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. The way that we glorify God is by remaining in Him, letting His word remain in us, and by asking for what we want. Because God is glorified when we bear fruit, in other words, when we receive the answers to our prayers.

Jesus came so that we could have life and abundance (John 10:10). God's will for us is that we be the best we can be. Which means that we need to grow in our relationship with Him and our faith in what He can do. If we believe that God can answer our prayers for everything except our finances, then we have a very limited view of God.

Is it possible that we could become wealthy and turn our backs on God? The answer is yes. But it's also possible that we could be poor, steal, and bring dishonor to His name. And being poor doesn't have to mean being below the poverty level, it could just mean not being able to handle our bills. There are a lot of people who can't make ends meet who steal in little ways all the time. Whether it's cheating on their taxes, not paying tithes and offerings, or expecting full pay for a half-day's work, there are a lot of ways to steal.

Will God prosper someone who is just going to misuse the money? Again, the answer is yes. God definitely has purposes for the wealth that He brings into our lives. And if we are not going to fulfill those purposes, then He will simply take the money away from us and give it to someone who will use it properly. Proverbs 13:22 says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous."

Does God want everyone to be rich? The answer to that one is: Depends. And what it depends on is: What do you want for yourself? If you don't want to be rich, then God isn't going to force it on you. But if you do, then God can show you how to create wealth, and even more importantly, if you want to become wealthy in a way that honors God; He can show you how to do that as well. God can teach you how to properly manage wealth and continue to trust in Him for everything in your life. Because the faith that we have in God, how much we are willing to trust Him, isn't determined by our bank accounts, it's determined by our attitude.

One of the best-known examples of a people that God wanted to bless, but who refused to accept it, was the Children of Israel who came out of Egypt. They had spent their entire lives as slaves, but they had seen God's power when He rescued them and brought them to the Promised Land. But when they got to the edge of the Promised Land, they simply didn't have the faith to believe that God could fulfill His promise to them.

The spies had gone in and looked at that land, they had even come back with a glowing report about how wonderful it was. They said that the land flowed with milk and honey, and showed them a cluster of grapes that was so huge it had to be carried on a pole between two people. They were going to be given vineyards they had planted, and houses they hadn't built. Even though they had done nothing to earn this favor, God was going to bless them simply because He loved them and wanted to glorify His name.

But the spies report didn't stop at the blessings. They continued to tell the people that there were fortified cities and giants in the land. The people got very upset, and when Caleb, who had been one of the spies, tried to calm everyone down, and insisted that they could go up and take the land, the other spies said that they couldn't.

In Numbers 13:31-33 we read, "But the men who had gone up with him (Caleb) said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.' And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, 'The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.'"

It's both funny and sad how they completely exaggerated what they saw. Did they really see a land that "devoured" the inhabitants? No. And do you think that any of them actually walked up to one of the giants and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Giant! Do I look like a grasshopper to you?" I doubt it.

But the same thing happens to us when we start thinking about the blessings that God wants to bring into our lives. We start wondering if the hassles of dealing with all that money will be too much for us. We begin to believe that money will ruin us (the land will devour us), or that there are just too many really big problems when you have money (the people are of great stature), and we just won't be able to handle it (we are as grasshoppers in our own sight).

The simple answer, the bottom line is, that God can bless us beyond our wildest dreams. He can bring wealth into our lives, and cause us to prosper financially and in every other area of our lives. But He can't force us to believe in Him.

Now I don't want to paint a false picture. Just like the Israelites looking at the Promised Land, we see that the blessings are incredible, but there are real live problems that we will have to overcome. God doesn't just hand us the money on a silver platter. We need to learn how to manage and multiply our wealth. And when we have more money, our lives will change. But the fact that things in our lives will change, that we will need to learn new skills, and that we will have new problems to overcome, should not keep us from wanting wealth.

I know that some people feel that having money will solve all their problems, but the only people who believe that are the ones that don't have money. Money brings some new and interesting problems with it. But God will always be there to help us every step of the way.

So, what's the bottom line? Whether or not we have wealth in our lives isn't determined by some mysterious plan that God has for us, but isn't telling us. God's will is for us to know Him no matter how much money we do, or don't have. And how much we have in this life, and even how we use it, is a matter of our personal choice. God hasn't decided that some people will be poor and others will be rich, just like He hasn't decided that some people will go to hell while others will get to go to heaven. What He did decide was to give us the choice.

When we look at the parable of the talents, see my article on Introduction to Prosperity - Being Faithful With Wealth, we see that it's just a matter of the abilities that we have and the opportunities that are available to us. And each one of us will have to decide how we define wealth. But the minimum that we should all be shooting for is to have more than enough, more than we need for ourselves with plenty left over to help others.

The only question we each need to answer is: How much wealth do we want? It's our choice, so let's make a decision and honor God with all that He gives us.